Italian accessories designer Giulia Ber Tacchini has worked in the luxury fashion world for years, designing accessories for a number of well known brands. Fortunately for us, she branched out in 2016 to found her own luxury accessories brand: MAISSA. Now, I say fortunately for us because with the freedom to design her own pieces, Ber Tacchini has created some truly unique handbags and jewelry which have leveraged the creative possibilities afforded by 3D design and printing.

Working with 3D printing and a slew of fine materials, including brass, gold, leather and more, Ber Tacchini has breathed new life into her accessories through playful themes and geometric structures. The exceptional pieces really are reflective of our times and contemporary aesthetics.

Unsurprisingly, we’re not the only ones who have fallen in love with MAISSA accessories, as the brand has already collaborated with haute couture labels like Dior, Prada and Chloé. Recently, Ber Tacchini was also announced as a finalist in Vogue Italia’s “Who is on Next?” scouting project.

We recently spoke to the up-and-coming designer about her work and how additive manufacturing has effected how she designs and creates.

“I definitely fell in love with 3D printing and the idea of combining it with traditional high-quality Italian craftsmanship,” she tells us. “I was impressed by the new aesthetic opportunities it offers—such as three dimensional meshes, parametric structures, metal knits and kinetic elements, etc.—that are not possible with the traditional technologies.”

“At the same time, I was attracted to the technology because it’s an ethical and sustainable manufacturing method. It’s on demand, doesn’t require industrial mass production and designers aren’t faced with the accumulation of unsold and wasted products. With 3D printing, you can recycle and re-use 3D printing powders and raw materials.”

Speaking of her brand’s aesthetic, Ber Tacchini says: “MAISSA has a visionary and playful attitude because I love the idea of creating a positive empathy with the objects of everyday use. The FW18/19 plays with primitive art and emoticon language, pop icons and robots. I love to play with icons and symbols, mixing them together to create a new language.”

Indeed, her recent accessories collection is playful in its style and features such pieces as the “Mr Adorobot Clutch,” a sparkly eyed robot-shaped purse; the “Mr Lips Clutch,” a handbag in the shape of a devilish pair of lips; and the “Mr Wildworld Clutch,” a smiley clutch with globes for eyes. The purses, notable for their geometric, mesh-like structures, are 3D printed out of metal and are then burnished by hand and plated in gold.

“I use SLS with resin or metal,” the designer explains, adding that for the handbags she typically works with brass while for jewelry she uses silver or gold. To keep things as local as possible, the 3D printing itself is done in collaboration with a number of Italy-based 3D printing services.

Currently, MAISSA is preparing to launch its new CUSTOM project which will enable clients to customize existing pieces from the collection with a name, initials or text. The ability to customize, says the designer, was another big draw for her to 3D printing technologies.

“With MAISSA, I combine the innovation of 3D printing with the tradition of Italian craftsmanship and I’d love to emphasize these two elements more with increasingly special handcrafted work and more high tech 3D printing technology,” she concludes.

Tess Boissonneault moved from her home of Montreal, Canada to the Netherlands in 2014 to pursue a master’s degree in Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. It was during her time in Amsterdam that she became acquainted with 3D printing technology and began writing for a local additive manufacturing news platform.
Now based in France, Tess has over two and a half years experience writing, editing and publishing additive manufacturing content with a particular interest in women working within the industry. She is an avid follower of the ever-evolving AM industry.

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